Interview With Ellie Greenwood Post World Championship 100k

Crossing the line in 7:30:30 at the WC100k in Qatar. Photo: irunfar/Bryon Powell

After being named Ultra Running Magazine Ultra Runner of the Year (UROY) in 2011 and 2012 (plus probably winning it this year too), Ellie Greenwood has already had her share of success. However, this year is arguably her best yet due to wins at Comrades in South Africa and the recent 100k World Championship in Qatar. In addition she also won the 2014 Chuckanut 50k and the Squamish 50k.

I've been lucky enough to help Ellie through this year by coaching her, plus she now coaches others through my company too. There are a lot of interview with Ellie right now, but I wanted to ask a bit more about how she's approached races this year and what she's learned about coaching.

No doubt Ellie will continue to dominate global ultra running for years to come, so here's an insight into how she does it:

1. How did you deal with injuries in the last year, given you weren’t able to run much in 2013?

Ellie - Coming back to ultra running in 2014 I have been very careful to avoid getting injured again.  I now work closely with a Sports Med Dr., a physio and a massage therapist to work through any little niggles before they turn into injuries and prevent me from training.  I appreciate their expert advice and am careful to follow it.  In addition, I have focused on building back to high mileage very slowly and instead have done more quality rather than just pure quantity of training this year, so get a bigger bang for my buck in the miles that I do put in.  This year I have had some little niggles but with careful maintenance, foam rolling, stretching and being smart I have been able to work through them and still perform at my key races.

2. What cross-training did you incorporate while injured and what will you continue to do now you’re injury-free?

Ellie - I pool ran, cycled and rowed/ used elliptical in the gym.  I continue to cycle and use pool running when I feel my body needs a break from too much pounding of outdoors running.  I also was more dedicated to basic strength training when injured and continue to do this regularly even now I am 100% healthy as I know this is vital in injury prevention and making me a better runner.

3. How does your training differ for road races compared to trail races?

Ellie - In training for road ultras I tend to spend a similar number of hours each week training as if I was training for the trails but the mileage goes up and the amount of elevation goes down.  I focus on more consistent pace long runs, rather than just time on feet and hiking, when training for a road ultra.  I will always incorporate some tempo runs and speed work into my training, but these sessions become more important when training for a road ultra.  However even when training for a road ultra I'll spend some time of trails but just choose flatter and less technical trails, this gives my body a reprieve from the hard tarmac and also adds variety which is key for motivation.

4. How do you deal with unexpected factors on race day, such as the harder surface (tiles) and large number of 180 degree turns at the WC100k in Qatar?

Ellie - I just accept that all athletes are running the same course so no one has an advantage or disadvantage over another.  My UK team mate Jo Zakrzewski had run the course before so we checked out the course two days prior to the race, even this amount of time meant I was able to be forewarned of the courses challenges ahead of the race so there were no surprises on race day.  With the hard tiles I chose to wear a more cushioned shoe that I might have done otherwise, and with the sharp turns I didn't obsess if these kms were slower than others as I accepted that the turns would slow me down a little.

5. What have you learned from your experiences this year with wins at Comrades and the WC100k that you’ll apply to coaching others?

Ellie - I have learned that volume in training is not the be all and end all, and that fewer miles with quality can achieve just as good results.  I have also learned that really training specifically for a course (terrain, elevation etc) yields the best results and thus targeting one or two 'A' races each year is the way to really perform at one's best, if that is your goal.  I have also learned to take care of what seem like little extra factors e.g. trying to travel pre race a few days before, having a race day nutrition plan, heat training etc.  There is no point in just doing the run training and missing these extra factors which can really make a difference to race day performance.

Running on the tiles in the WC100k. Photo: irunfar/Bryon Powell

Mini Miwok 100k

This year's Miwok 100k in Marin County, north of San Francisco, was full of surprises. Although it's no longer a Montrail Ultracup race with entry spots for Western States 100, it still had a few fast men and women to make the leading times very competitive.

Temperatures have been high in California for a few weeks and there are forest fires near LA currently. Unfortunately, late in the evening on the night before Miwok the authorities in charge of the permit for a section of the race revoked permission to use their trails due to there being a danger of fires starting in the heat. So race director, Tia Boddington, had to make last minute changes to the course that adjusted the start time from 5am to 8am and the distance from 100k to about 60k.

Just before the post-dawn, adjusted start

Although a lot of people were disappointed with the reduced distance, we were pretty much all glad to be able to race at all. At first I didn't think it'd affect the pace a whole lot since 60k in the heat isn't much easier than what the 100k that was expected. That wasn't the case since it started off more like a 10k trail race up the Dipsea Trail from Stinson Beach.

Early miles. Photo by San Francisco Running Company.

Dylan Bowman and Gary Gellin shot up the climb and were out of sight by the first aid station at 3 miles. Over the 7,700ft of ascent and 37.2 miles of the course they held on to a hard pace and battled it out. Around half way I was 4-5 mins back from Dylan who'd managed to gap Gary slightly, plus I felt like I'd paced things about right to that point and was starting to catch them marginally on the downhill and flat few miles near to Rodeo Beach.

At that point I was directed past a turning and kept running along the road to Rodeo Beach despite a lack of course markings. I'd have questioned it sooner if I'd not just been shown the way but did eventually turn around after asking multiple tourists if they'd seen any runners come through, which added to the time a little as I tried to find markings anywhere that might show I was going the right way.

Once I followed my tracks back I saw the turning and saw other runners going the right way, but I was now several places further back and lost around 11 minutes according to my Garmin. With somewhere around 17-18 miles to go I knew there was no way to catch the leaders unless they dropped or got lost so it became a training run from that point.

Looking back along the trail at Pirates Cove

The benefit of that was the prettiest sections (in my opinion) of the course were coming up ahead at Pirates Cove so I was able to take in the views a little more rather than busting a gut through that section. It wasn't easy by any means in the heat but it was more enjoyable to take it a little easier. Since the heat and miles were starting to get to the runners I gained a few spots to finish in 4th in 5:15 with Dylan taking the win in 4:49 and Gary not far behind, then my coaching client, Chris Wehan in 3rd in 5:04. Full results on Ultrasignup. Darcy Africa took the women's race in 6:05.

It was a fun day as always for races in Marin and Tia did a great job of making the race happen despite the last minute difficulties. Runs like this make me very glad to be back in the Bay Area, although Dylan and I were both a little concerned that the early season high temperatures and low snow levels in the High Sierra might lead to a big fire season out there. From a selfish viewpoint, one of the affects of that might be fires canceling Western States.

10 Days in Nicaragua - Fuego y Agua Ultra

Writing this on my way home from an incredibly memorable trip to the Fuego y Agua ('Fire and Water') set of races on Ometepe Island in Lake Nicaragua, it seems I've been away for a month, not 10 days. Developing countries always throw interesting experiences your way and my first trip to Central America didn't disappoint. It was great to get away from winter and into 90F+ weather but I'll be glad to get a good night's rest where the air doesn't try to cook me at night while the bugs are kept away by industrial levels of repellent.

Volcanoes - Concepcion (left) and Maderas (right) in Lake Nicaragua

With two volcanoes on the island, separated by an isthmus and several miles, there were three running races on offer (25k, 50k and the main event in the 100k) as well as an intriguing new 70km obstacle race called the Survival Run. The latter barely registered on my radar when I signed up, but when I got there and started hearing about it I found out all about a parallel sub-culture to the running world. And the more I heard, the more I wanted to know - it was like a baseball fan finding out that basketball exists.

The first couple of days were spent with irunfar's Sean Meissner and Eric Orton (Christopher McDougall's coach in 'Born to Run'). We were treated exceptionally well by Race Directors, Josue and Paula Stephens, and his team with trips to sight-see the town of Granada, a mini boat cruise and a plush press conference with national TV coverage - not something you expect at an ultra. But one thing that would have helped is if any of us could speak more than restaurant-menu-level Spanish. Not many Nicaraguans speak any English and I only ever learnt any French and German, which didn't help (despite one failed attempt...you never know!).

Over the next few days we headed over from the capital, Managua (not particularly fascinating) to Ometepe, involving a choppy small ferry ride. By this point Nick and Jamil Coury (fast Race Directors for Aravaipa Running who put on the 24-hour races I ran in December) had joined the group, as had Margaret Schlachter (an obstacle racer and owner of Dirt In Your Skirt, which is similar to irunfar but for that sport and with more of a female focus). Nick Clark, Dave James, Yassine Diboun and the elite obstacle racers started arriving and it began to get a feel like Transvulcania last year where plenty of fast runners were just hanging out and catching up. The main difference this time was more beer.

Thursday morning included a group trash pick-up on the streets of the village of Moyogalpa, where the races started and half of them finished. Having never done this, it was a fitting way for the 90% of the racers from abroad could help out with the local community and raise the impact of the race for the locals. Mind you, there's so much trash I'd guess that by now it's already back to its previous state.

After that I hiked up the nearest volcano, Concepcion, with the Courys and we found it was scorching under the sun, albeit with some cover on the way up through the jungle. Monkeys could occasionally be seen and always heard and iridescent butterflies added to the exotic assault on the senses. It was also way steeper than expected with not much in the way of switchbacks on the 3,000ft climb to the high point that the race follows on that climb. Views from the top were obviously spectacular and the top of the volcano was visible with smoke trickling out from the lava within. This is a rare thing to see since the top half of the mountain is usually cloaked in puffy clouds.

Nick and Jamil Coury heading towards the volcano for a hike

High on Concepcion. L-R: me, Nick and Jamil Coury

Dodging the barbed wire on the final descent

We had to hurry back down since I'd arranged a beer mile at 4pm, my first foray into race directing. Beer was definitely a theme of the whole week and local beer, Tona, sponsored the race - we certainly justified that and chose it as the official beer of the inaugural Fuego y Agua Thursday Beer Mile, using an out-and-back 1/8 mile stretch of road by the main race start.

Most people can guess how these things go with each runner drinking a beer before running a quarter of a mile and repeating four times with a penalty lap for not keeping it down. In the heat, a bare-footed Patrick Sweeney ran his slowest beer mile ever to win in 6:29 while I was beaten by the remaining 12 or so runners, including a close run-off for last with Sean Meissner after virtually everyone else had had time to have a shower. I believe I posted a 21:20, so purposefully left myself plenty of improvement for next time. But serious runners, Nick Clark and Dave James (both highly favored in the pre-race odds) chose to not run because they'd already been drinking earlier in the day and had just got off the ferry...a very poor excuse.

Beer mile winner, Patrick Sweeney

Race directing the beer mile. Photo: Matt B. Davis

The race itself started at 4am on Saturday so we didn't get much sleep with all the contenders in the 100k staying at the race hotel/hostel in a dorm room in the heat. Given I've had knee issues since early December which flared up at Across the Years 24-hour on NYE, I'd decided that the Carlsbad Marathon at the end of Jan needed to be my last run for a month. Missed training and not wanting to make the knee continue to be a problem meant I dropped out the race a couple of weeks previously but decided to do an irunfar-style job of live tweeting what I could by cycling along the course.

Unfortunately the road sections were often on sand or were rocky enough to require a 4WD vehicle and my cheap rental road bike was broken within minutes with the back wheel bending and rubbing the frame. I barely made it to the 50k point (finish of the 50k race and half-way for the full distance) before the runners. That was with them having to climb up Maderas volcano through mud, cliff-edges, a 'jungle gym' of scrambling through trees and some descents that needed ropes. This isn't a beginner-level race and even the leaders took almost three hours to cover 10k of Maderas volcano.

Nick Coury had the lead 100k lead in 5:14, ahead of the 50k front-runners, then Dave James, Nick Clark and Yassine just behind. Around 5:43 the next runner was the 50k winner from Costa Rica, Diego Mendez, around a minute ahead of Jamil Coury who claimed second in that race with Alex Kurt in third. Alex was at the race to write an article for Trail Runner Magazine so that'll be out in a few months.

Jamil relaxing in the lake after taking second in the 50k

50k and Survival Run finish

Nick Coury in the lead in the earlier miles

Nick Clark at about 17 miles around dawn

Since my bike wasn't much use, I waited for a shuttle back with Jamil and Alex but it took a very long time (one of the few areas to improve in future) so I tried to ride back to make sure I'd be at the 100k finish in time for the winners. I got half way before Jamil and Alex drove past in the shuttle bus and got the driver to pick me up, saving me from the burning sun and lack of shade. Luckily we did make it back in time to see Nick Clark predictably come in first in a new course record of just under 10:35. Dave James was next in 11:06, also under the old record and Nick Coury held on for third around 11:20 while Yassine had to drop with pain in his kidneys at 70k (he's fine now). All suffered through the heat and with the climb up the Concepcion volcano, plus course markings weren't ideal so there was some time spent getting lost for many runners that day - Clarky reckons he went wrong to waste 10 mins.

However, the race I really wanted to see more of was the Survival Run because they followed the 50k route plus lots of additional diversions. Margaret's blog covers their race in detail, but they all had to start by running the first five miles with a chicken then they got put in handcuffs by the local police to run for another two miles (without the chicken). Obstacles included climbing trees, carrying 40lbs of wood and cutting down trees. Even their packet pick-up the day before involved not knowing what they'd need to do, then they had to swim out to a boat to pick up their numbers and swim back within a short time limit.

Given this was the first year of the event and most obstacle races are much shorter than an ultra and include looped courses in more controlled environments, this was at the very hardcore end of the spectrum. Of 50 entrants, only two finished - world class Junyong Pak (apologies if I mis-spelled but couldn't find his name anywhere) and local hero Johnson Cruz. Johnson was the big story of the whole event, not just for winning by almost half an hour and finishing, but because he lives on the island and holds the 50k course record (5:06). He's also about the nicest guy you could ever meet, shown by the fact he helped out Jun Yung on one of the obstacles (not a normal thing in a race from what I understand unless the person is in danger or a back of the pack competitor just trying to finish).

Yassine Diboun out acting as a life guard for the Survival Run  packet pick-up and having to dodge a ferry

Starting the Survival Run with a chicken

Survival Run packet pick-up

The start of the 50k, 100k and Survival Run at 4am

Overall it was a fantastic course and I'll have to come back to see the Maderas volcano since it's dormant (unlike Concepcion) and has a crater lake and unique jungle and terrain. Everyone seemed to have a great time at the race, but the Survival Racers had a lot of cuts and bruises to show for their efforts.

The drama wasn't over with the race finish since the weather turned and by Monday was cloudy and windy with some rain too, stopping the ferries from being able to operate due to poor infrastructure at the mainland side. The next day the only ferry was at 5am and many of us sat in the port all day long until we finally accepted nothing would be operating. However, the ferry problems meant most people who didn't leave on Sunday had to rearrange flights, often at great expense and hassle. We did get off the island on a 5:30am ferry on Tuesday and got a chance to relax back in Managua before heading back to the cold of more northern winters. However, since we didn't see any lava we did still get the fuego side of things to go with the agua of the island - a security guard started a fire on an empty lot 200ft from our Managua hotel because he'd been told to clear the land. Smart guy...almost burnt down the neighborhood.

Yassine fire-watching (from a safe distance)

Overall, I'm honored to have been lucky enough to experience the long week with so many great runners and to have met kindred spirits (even if they do like Cross-Fit) in the obstacle racers. I'm even going to do a Spartan Race at some point to see what it's like and why the sport has grown from nothing a couple of years ago to many times larger than ultrarunning in the US. Might need some gym work first!

Full results from the races are soon to be on Ultrasignup. Of note, Sean Meissner came 4th, which he hates, but he did break the female course record. Sean also wrote up articles on irunfar about the event.

More links:

Yassine Diboun's report
Sean Meissner's irunfar write-ups of before, race report and after
Nick Clark's report

Other random photos:

Relaxing on the island

Granada's cathedral

Meissner and Tona

Pre-race press conference

Church on Ometepe Island

Pre-race dinner

Clarky winning in 10:34

Meissner and the grande cerveza

Yassine trying out a Survival Run training piece

This is how Meissner coaches people at irunfar

Not so sure he wants to dangle on the rope

The podium prizes - locally crafted masks

Hunting the Greater-Spotted, Hyper Maravilla in Deepest Virginia

The Maravilla mating dance. Photo courtesy irunfar.com

The dawn light makes eerie shadows from overhanging trees. The dawn chorus of random insects and birds tries to disorient my senses, but intense focus on my task makes me block out those distractions.

Early on the Japanese Samurai, Shinji Nakadai, is my hunting partner, but after we catch the rare Brazilian jaguar (Iazaldir Feitoza) I set off in pursuit of more elusive game. Occasionally I hear howling or screaming in the distance, possibly some kind of mating call. It's difficult to judge the distance but I have no trouble following the beast's trail. Sometimes I catch a brief glimpse in the distance of white spandex or is it my mind playing tricks?

I soon realize that on my UROC hunting trip, the over-energized Jorge Maravilla is my primary target. Other thin and determined-looking specimens occasionally attract my attention, but the sport is with the Maravilla. The whoops in the distance taunt me but never get closer - does he know I'm chasing?

This persists for hours as I gradually wear myself down and can't believe the Maravilla is always "3 minutes" ahead according to wild-eyed natives. Surely the rocky terrain will slow him? No. Maybe the endless tarmac will wear him down? Never! I start to think he can't be caught, that he's just toying with me. I should have set a trap on the way out to ensnare my nemesis when he returned.

Then finally it looks like the last climb of the day will be my opportunity to take down the amiable, Cheshire-grinned cat. The road winds upwards for an eternity and at each turn I see my prey. Occasionally his glance backwards tells me the Maravilla is running scared. After over eight hours of stalking, it looks like I may succeed. Yet the gap isn't closing. It's like a race through treacle, painfully slow yet at maximum effort.

As I see the end of the hunt, signified by a large inflated hoop and a clock, I also spot a blur of Ecuadorian-Californian magic go into the safety of the locals' arms. It's been a duel - one I'll never forget. But a mere minute denies me my coveted prize.

8h25m of effort ends with sightings of two Western cheetahs sitting and drinking (Max King and Sage Canaday), both limping from the day's efforts. These animals are natural sprinters but stepped up to the endurance challenge in impressive form. Yet I suspect this is just the second of many hunts with the Maravilla (the first was through the High Sierra with the roles reversed at Western States where I fended off the challenge from the world's happiest feline).

It's memories like these that I know will stay with me forever, ingrained into my mind by the searing heat of a day-long battle. Hundreds of stories come out of every similar event with duels and partnerships that last minutes or hours. More can be found (as well as results) at irunfar and the race website.

Photo courtesy Bad To The Bone.

L-R: Me, David Riddle, Jorge, Nick Clark, Dave Mackey and Scott McCoubrey. Photo courtesy Bad To The Bone.

UROC 2012 Pre-Race

The summer's over now and there's a bit more time to get into the mountains before the snow makes that more difficult, but that means that the Autumn road races are here in force with many of the big road marathons kicking off. However, UROC 100k makes for a fun transition by mixing in road and trail in equal measures as well as some decent climbing. In fact, the UROC website says only a bit over 7,000ft of ascent, but it's a very similar course to last year which was almost double that, so I'm not expecting anyone to run road-equivalent 100k times.

irunfar has written up a detailed preview of the deep men's field, but there's a danger that there'll be less female finishers in the elite field than there are prize money positions - 6 starters for 5 positions. I thought the fast female ultrarunners in the US were equally happy on roads and trails (look at how many fast trail women have represented their country at the road 100k...it's a lot). So come on ladies - give Ellie Greenwood some competition.

Anyone care to guess the men's podium in order? It's almost pot luck to get them all right.

Great work by Gill and Francesca to grow the event from last year and I still get that nervous excitement from lining up against a top quality bunch of guys to see how it plays out. I hope that never disappears, even when I get old and become a wheezy old man trying to get my 50th Comrades finish.

And for ultra/mountain/trail geeks (this definitely includes me), there are two other huge races going on over in Europe this weekend too - the Skyrunning race at Cavalls Del Vent in Spain and the classic Greek Spartathlon which is arguably based on the start of ultrarunning, 2,500 years ago. I'll be writing up a preview and description of the latter race for irunfar this week and it's on my extra long to-do list (currently penciled in for 2014).

DNFing

After three weekends in a row of racing I'd not been running well at all this week and things didn't look promising for Waldo 100k. But with hardly any running and plenty of rest for a few days I hoped I'd pulled a quick recovery off.

Hal Koerner and Joe Uhan were DNSs but with on-fire, new Dad, Timmy Olson, and a host of other fast guys (see irunfar), plus forest fire diversions to make the race 65.6 miles long, it was bound to be a fast race. So I couldn't avoid giving it a good effort, since it's a fantastic course and race director, Craig Thornley, had pulled out the stops to adjust the race at the last minute.

Unfortunately I felt lackluster on the way up the starting ski slope but cruised down the other side and was with the leaders at the first aid station. That seemed like a good sign, but I felt like a drained battery after that point and by about 13 miles I was as tired as at the end of a 100 miler, just without the soreness. Walking and taking on food and drink didn't help so at 20.5 miles I stopped.

Excuses aside, DNFs don't ever feel good, but I know it's important to pick and choose the hard efforts, both from a mental and physical recovery stand-point. This one should have been a DNS but I do have trouble saying 'no' to races, especially ones I know are excellent and have beautiful courses. I feel like I'm in great shape right now but I needed an extra week to recover for this. Hal's illness and Dan's post-WS fatigue made them make the smart choice...but they didn't get to see the view from Fuji Mt just after dawn (I still don't regret giving it a go as you never can tell when a good day may materialize). 

The coming weeks are busy with more races, so a DNF was a better option than grinding out a 15-hour finish just to prove to myself I could. Just a shame that the bad day had to be for such a fun event. 

As I write this in front of the TV, the runners are reaching the later miles and several people will gain a spot at Western States. Jacob Rydman started off leading and looks good for either the win or an entry spot, at least. Course record holder, Joelle Vaught, was in 5th overall at 44.7 miles so she should punch her ticket for the Big Dance too. Good to catch up with and make new friends on the trails today and as soon as I dropped I switched to 'fan mode' to follow it on Twitter and ultralive.

Full results and a race write-up on irunfar.

UROC Review

Wrecked. Photo courtesy of irunfar's Twitter.

Love this video showing some of the fog. Plenty more videos on the UROC website.

The mist lifts temporarily and second and third places are just ahead along the undulating road. As a dickhead in a Jeep tries to purposefully run us off the road, I turn to let them know what I think. As I do, I see that fifth is also visible now. Maybe two minutes separates four of the five 'podium' places and there's barely a 10k left to run on the road in the inaugural Ultra Race of Champions 100k near Charlottesville, VA. So all that can be done is to speed up and try to change the order.

There were plenty of twists and turns along the whole distance and I think everyone there was suitably impressed with the organization and format of the race. Enough fast guys showed up to really push the pace and the two spot prizes for the first to the highest point (5.5 miles in) and to the 33 mile aid station seemed to make a few start quicker than they should have.

It was also a great social event with established ultra legends making cameos (Scott McCoubrey and Dr David Horton) as well as a good selection of the established fast guys in the US (Geoff Roes, Dave Mackey, Mike Wardian, Dave James, etc) and newer blood showing their stuff (Matt Flaherty and Jon Allen running particularly well). There was even one of the select 10 finishers ever of the Barkley Marathon (Jonathan Basham), probably the hardest race out there - if you don't believe me, then this may change your mind.

Others can tell the story from their perspectives, but here's the only perspective I had out there - mine. irunfar has summarized it well and provided excellent coverage, as did the race website. In particular I have to point out the live and near live video coverage with commentary which was a first for a trail ultra and looked amazing.

The race:

The weather had been humid with torrential rain the previous day, but we started off with overcast and cool conditions. The controversial separate elite start at 7am (15 minutes before the rest of the field) included a 200m loop to go past the crowds then off down the trails. I love it when a race starts downhill since it tends to wake my legs up faster and I cruised along talking to Matt Flaherty who won the North Face 50 miler the previous weekend in Madison, WI.

The course was hard to assess in advance, as shown below in profile with almost 13,000ft of ascent, given the frequent switches between easy trail, technical/rocky/slippery sections and roads. The very few flatter sections should also allow for a real increase in pace, but we really didn't know what to expect.

The first 'King of the Mountain' prize of $200 at 5.5 miles maybe incentivized a couple of guys to go off hard but it just seemed that the pace was very fast immediately. Too fast for a 100k as tough as this, and this proved to be the case for a few guys. I settled into a walk soon into the first climb since it was taking too much effort that early on to run and I'd rather save my energy to fight later in the race. This put me in about 15th at the first checkpoint, but I wasn't far behind and wasn't concerned.

Different runners clearly had different strengths and the continual changes in the running surface and gradient meant a lot of back and forth between runners. In particular there was an early 1,500ft downhill, mainly on road that saw some leaders hammering downhill. I knew that it would hurt a few people later on and tried to restrain myself to merely my 10k pace (it was hard to not go faster, especially seeing others zooming along).

Dave Mackey and Scott Gall were pushing things up front at an impressive speed, but I got myself up to the cusp of the top 10 running with Michael Owen along a flatter section before heading down an easy trail to Sherando Lake aid station (17.6 miles) where we saw the leaders up to a mile ahead of us on the out and back.

Michael Owen and myself must have run around 10 miles together in total but on leaving the lake for the biggest climb of the day he dropped off as the mist covered us, and soon after had to DNF, unfortunately. I was impressed by his sensible pacing and he seemed to be running within himself to save up the effort for later in the day, so was surprised to see him slow.

That climb up to Bald Mountain had some technical sections of sharp, small rocks which could easily turn an ankle. But it was only 1,700ft vertically so was over soon and I caught Eric Grossman (recent Miwok 100k winner) just after the high point.

I'd not felt great all day but was keeping things at a gentle pace to see if things would click eventually. They did around 18 miles but only for a short period before I felt that all-too-familiar fatigue from too much racing this year. However, like the other times (Comrades, Western States and more) it just meant a general lethargy instead of a complete crash. And the way to deal with it is to merely reduce the pace a bit rather than having to stop or slow to a crawl. Others hit really big walls, but I was wading through the fog as if it was as substantial as treacle. Just running but without the higher gears being available.

Luckily the next road section was fairly easy so I could cruise through the fog even when the media crew decided to drive next to me for a mile and film. Had to put in a little more effort for that, although when I saw the footage it did look very slow...especially when immediately followed by shots of Mike Wardian running that same section.

I felt basically the same all the way out to the turnaround at 37.2 miles but at least I was moving up the field. On the relatively fast trail section lasting 4.1 miles each way I was running with Jon Allen and we saw some carnage as Dave Mackey walked towards us on his way to dropping. I don't think he went too fast, just turned up feeling bad but wanted to be part of the show and he certainly led the charge.

Coming back toward us we got to see the leaders and the gaps, although the fog was dense and nullified the views along the ridge. At that point Mike Wardian had three miles on me in first and looked very comfortable. Geoff Roes was next around 1.5 miles ahead, then Matt Flaherty with 1.25 miles advantage. Scott Gall had fallen down to fourth and was 0.75 miles ahead, so I knew he was slowing, but I was surprised to see 'Mr Barkley', JB, in fifth with a half mile lead over Jon and myself, who were now in sixth and seventh. Clearly the stubbornness and fitness required for 59 hours of hell on that course makes for a tough competitor in any ultra.

I passed Jon as we turned to head back and caught Scott Gall walking soon after, who dropped. It was still too early to race but I tried to reel in the positions without pushing too much, too soon. It didn't help that I kept being told that JB and Matt looked tired and were 'just ahead' yet I couldn't even see them, partly due to the fog.

On the way back to Bald Mountain I passed JB as he vomited and moved to fourth. With at least 14 miles left anything could happen, but I thought to myself that it looked like Mike's only way to lose would be to get lost. Maybe I jinxed him since he took a turn back down the mountain along the route we came up instead of the continuing route on a right turn. According to our Garmin comparisons at the finish line, he ran a total of 67 miles while I did 63.9, which did include a short mistake of my own of maybe 0.2 miles. So he added a 'Wardian handicap' and somehow dropped into third when he popped back on to the right route. A real shame, but Mike's a fighter and would give everything to get back to the front. He's not a DNF kind of guy, and when you can seemingly run at your peak every weekend, that's especially impressive.

In the final section of single track, Jon caught me up because it was still too early to go all out when I felt as flat as I did. This is where we did a little detour to a waterfall, but then we had a climb back to the remaining road section of 8.5 miles. As we appeared, literally out of the mist, at the penultimate aid station at the start of the road, I saw Mike heading out of it and was surprised. I did a final refill of my TNF waterpack, intending to start the race proper and run right through the final aid station.

Would 8.5 miles be too much for a final push? I couldn't tell, but it was now or never and there was no danger of a DNF this late on. The fog temporarily dispersed and I could see Mike and Matt ahead just as the Jeep I mentioned earlier tried to hit us. Four guys fighting for positions on the road with Geoff supposedly twenty minutes ahead. Generally I'd love this situation, especially with a few miles that were merely gently rolling at first, but I wasn't expecting any gifts. Mike's a 2:17 marathoner and Matt recently did a 2:22. With the lack of road running I've done since Comrades I think a 2:45 would be a struggle right now so catching them would involve running myself into the ground, plus maybe some luck.

The fog rolled over us again and meant I couldn't even judge whether my work was paying off or not. A couple of 6:30 miles felt like a lot faster and I was reminded of Comrades in 2010. There I'd chased Mike down at the end, but it involved running 6s to the end and was probably my best run ever. Both situations had the lung-busting, all-out sensation but this time I could tell it'd take Mike to have a very bad day for things to swing my way. Plus I didn't really want to beat him if it's only because of a wrong turn, not that that made me hold back.

The final aid station was at the end of the flatter road and headed steeply downhill for 700ft vertically in just over a mile. The visibility was better and now Matt was just ahead, but Mike must have powered through the pea soup to move well into second and was out of sight. Ok, so just a 2:22 marathoner to catch over 4.3 miles of steep down then a longer, steep up.

A good push for the descent got me past Matt but I felt like three more miles was too much. I tried to get round a corner on the uphill before having to walk but couldn't gap Matt enough to get out of sight and he went just past me before he walked. So, it was going to be like this. Both of us run ragged into the ground and with nothing left to push up the final hill. My walking was faster than his, but he didn't need to walk as much as me and by the top he'd gone out of sight. Much of the hill had Dave James and Jason Bryant (both had dropped earlier due to injuries) giving me updates on Jon behind and Matt in front. I was getting more concerned with Jon, but kept a lead of at least a couple of minutes over him.

I'll be honest that this was the situation I'd most wanted to avoid - having to hammer out the final uphill. Too many races this year and too many draining finishes (like spending hours 'sprinting' to the finish of Western States to try to break into the top 10) had left less desire to drive myself to my limits at the close of a race. I don't mean I didn't want to try, just that when there's several hours of red-lining it takes a huge mental effort which can't be done too often or you feel frazzled. And I felt frazzled.

Men's top five. L-R: Jon Allen, Matt Flaherty, me, Mike Wardian and Geoff Roes. Courtesy irunfar's Twitter.

Full results here but the men's top five was Geoff Roes (8:58), then Mike Wardian (9:20), Matt Flaherty (9:22), me (9:23) and Jon Allen (9:26). Was great to see Geoff have a good result, although it looks like he had to suffer through a tough day too and wouldn't have wanted to win the race in the way he did after Mike's error. I didn't catch much of the women's race but the leaders were close each time I saw them.

Summary video of the whole race here:


In hindsight, I do love the course and the dynamic of the varying terrain. But on the day I just wanted it to end and didn't need it to be a couple of miles long. Gill and Francesca put on a great event and I definitely want to return (hopefully fresher) next year. I can see this getting really big over time. A lot has been said about the prize money and how it may have motivated people, but in reality it was too small this year to have much effect (a total purse of $10,000 over five men and five women). I think what really attracted people to the run was the chance to have a tough race against great competitors and to have a genuine championship feel in a trail race, more on a par with professional sports than ultrarunning. I don't think many were disappointed at all.

Next up should be a big, long rest. However, I've got the chance to run in Chile three weeks after UROC so the rest will have to wait. This race pummeled my legs and mind, but that's kind of why we do the sport in the first place.

Professionalism - Ultra Race Of Champions 100k Pre-Race

So the Ultra Race of Champions ("UROC") 100k is almost here, and with it the biggest push towards professionalism in our sport in North America. Prize money has always been non-existent or small in ultra-running (outside South Africa - I'll mention this more below), except in a few 'pedestrian' races from 18th and 19th century Britain which were popular for gambling crowds. And maybe a couple of other long multi-day events (I believe the Melbourne-Sydney races in Australia often put up a lot of cash). In particular, there's a good history of ultrarunning, which covers the early gambling start, in Professor Tim Noakes' 'Lore of Running'.

We do already have the North Face Endurance Challenge series with a $10,000 first prize in the final and these races are great, particularly the final. Last year's final was almost certainly the most competitive 50 miler ever and this year's will probably be even more so. So I should give credit here to this series, but it doesn't push the elite profile of the race much and it's only the money that makes it any different. UROC is much more focused on raising the profile of the runners, selling the race on the back of who will be there and purposefully opting for a more professional set-up for the runners, with some costs covered to some runners ('appearance fees') just for showing up. This is a move towards the more normal set-up for track and road races.

I know plenty of people have speculated, particularly in blogs, about whether it's good or bad for the sport to have more prize money and to make it possible to make a living from ultrarunning. Even about how possible it is to get enough interest in a sport where a dramatic move can still take hours to play out, often in remote locations.

Well, technology has certainly moved on dramatically in recent years to maybe make it possible for this to be a spectator sport. I never would have thought that following a race through one line updates on Twitter for hours could ever be interesting, yet this seems to have taken off in the past couple of years. With webcams along courses and instant updates online, maybe the time has come. Ultras have undoubtedly grown in prominence and popularity recently and stars like Kilian Journet even get their own adverts in Times Square, plus his well-known Kilian's Quest series of online shows.

Without the money from gambling that the pedestrians benefited from, it'll be interesting to see whether UROC successfully achieves its aim 'to create the Championship Event for the sport of Ultra Distance Running' (quote from the UROC website, and here's the list of elite entrants). Money is only part of the equation given that there's no doubt that UTMB attracts the world's best mountain ultrarunners with no prize purse, just like Western States which has nearly the same profile from a North American perspective.

But given the huge effort involved in training and high cost of attending races far from home, it seems only fair that the runners who provide the entertainment and help to sell sponsor's products don't do it all on their own dime. It's true that many do have sponsorship deals, but these generally just cover the main costs and very few people come away from a race cash-neutral, never mind having earned even as much as if they'd worked at McDonald's for the few days they were away from home.

Personally I hope UROC is a big success and that our sport grows and grows. It's a great way to push your boundaries and find out about yourself, while shorter distances rarely have those epiphanic moments. The more people who run ultras, the better for society. Ok, it means more lotteries in classic races but it also means more races to choose from. Choice in this sense is a good thing and there'll always be races around for 'purist' runners who want to avoid the crowds and fanfare. I wouldn't want to be without these for a second, but the opportunity to race against the best and to have everyone really focusing on that race is something that excites me both as a runner and as a fan of the sport.

One last word has to cover the South African ultras which are on a scale of their own and dwarf any other races out there. Having run the two prominent ultras over there, once at Two Oceans 56k (my blog) and five times at Comrades 89k (my 2009 blog, 2010 blog and 2011 blog), I can say that the significant prize money at both of these only enhances the races. Helicopters provide live TV coverage, as do lead vehicles (admittedly easier for road races).

Comrades is on national TV for the full 12 hours of the race, plus before and after. Yet the celebrities it makes of the runners and the extremely high quality organization only add to the experience for the thousands that participate and millions who watch. To put it in context, the winners of this race earn at least US$80,000 including sponsorship bonuses, plus more money for being the first to particularly points on the course, being local or a course record. If a local won in a course record, I estimate they'd win over US$140,000 at current exchange rates!

I expect I might prickle a few people's sensibilities with this posting and will have many negatives pointed out to me, but I'd certainly like to hear all the (non-troll) points of view.

Also, irunfar has put up coverage of the men's elite race and will probably do the same for the women.